New York State Common Retirement Fund Raises Stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 328.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 127,570 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 97,807 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.32% of WEX worth $26,755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WEX. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in WEX by 0.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 10,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,847,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of WEX by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,238 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in WEX by 40.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 301 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. grew its position in WEX by 2.1% in the first quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,148,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Long Road Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in WEX by 0.4% during the second quarter. Long Road Investment Counsel LLC now owns 26,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,729,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

WEX Stock Up 0.7 %

WEX stock opened at $173.79 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.57. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $198.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $192.10. WEX Inc. has a twelve month low of $165.51 and a twelve month high of $244.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by $0.53. WEX had a return on equity of 31.35% and a net margin of 12.45%. The company had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.44 EPS. WEX’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that WEX Inc. will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on WEX from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wolfe Research cut shares of WEX from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of WEX from $238.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of WEX to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $101,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $101,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 7,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 1,651 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.67, for a total value of $299,937.17. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,757 shares in the company, valued at $1,409,214.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About WEX

WEX Inc operates a commerce platform in the United States and internationally. The Mobility segment offers fleet vehicle payment solutions, transaction processing, and information management services; and provides account activation and account retention services; authorization and billing inquiries, and account maintenance services; account management; credit and collections services; merchant services; analytics solutions; and ancillary services and offerings.